Monthly Archives: March 2009

The financial and economic crisis of 2009 may be a catalyst for major advances in energy technology and for general infrastructure improvement. One can only hope that the money that is about to be spent is invested wisely in domestic energy resources and infrastructure so that it not only mitigates the economic crises but also brings returns in the form of domestic energy production and increased infrastructure efficiency that will in the near future help stem the rising tide of the national deficit. Even if the U.S. is still considered the safest haven for surplus money in the world, that situation cannot be taken for granted for ever. Those who see their investments in U.S. treasuries devalued are twisting their brains about how they can get out of this situation. The ultimate crisis would be a run on the dollar (Businessweek, 3/308, p. 28) in which major foreign investors dump their dollar holdings, which could herald in hyperinflation. The American people and we all who depend on dollars would suffer financial disaster.

The economic crisis right now has once again demonstrated ad occulos that we, including the so-called experts, don’t seem to have a clue what triggers economic collapses as the one we are in right now. When Lester Thurow in his book The Future of Capitalism mentions the possible scenario of a run on the dollar in 1996 (p. 230), he had no clue about the way our present economic collapse (go to www.technicalsociety.net) was triggered and spread like brush fire to all sectors of the economy. The economy in its bubble phase seems to be a highly unstable structure, in which even a minor failure in one part can trigger a progressive collapse of the whole structure.

So what can we do to climb out of the hole into which we were swept? Where can we as individuals make a contribution? One such area is green energy. Unlike highways, bridges, bullet trains, nuclear plants, etc., this is an area we can get personally involved in.

We in Tennessee are momentarily in the unusual situation where local (mayor), state (governor) and federal government (ORNL) stretch out a helping hand to make it happen. We should be aware that so far Tennessee has not been a good steward of energy resources. Despite of its advantage of being served by a non-profit power agency, the population and the state’s administration, and the politicians have allowed things to drift. One Tennessee politician once told me: “I am not a leader, I am a representative.” That sunk in. Among the nation’s states, many of them less advantaged than Tennessee, Tennessee ranks 17th from the top in energy use and 37th in the cost of energy. Presently, residential energy cost stands at around 9.5 cents per kWh. This is a considerable increase over what it was just a few years ago, but it is still a good deal, less than many consumers pay in other areas that are served by private power. Unfortunately it does not pay the real cost of the energy produced. The Tennessee per capita energy consumption exceeds that of 33 other states. In the U.S., in September 2008, 64% of power generation was fueled by coal, 30 % by nuclear, and 5.3 % by hydro. With 61 million metric tons of CO2 emissions Tennessee ranks 14th from the top in the US. ip address . North Carolina claims that Tennessee sends pollution over there from steam plants that have never been equipped with sulfur dioxide scrubbers. As people throw trash out of their car windows into my front yard, so their industry sends pollution across state lines.

Obviously, Tennessee has to do something to improve its image as a polluter and consumer of scarce resources. All the scientific and technological advantages that have been bestowed upon the state over the past 70 years seemingly had little effect on the environmental and social conscience of the population at large.

Hopefully, things are about to change. On March 2, the Technical Society had Dr. Timothy Valentine, Director of Strategic Planning and Communications, ORNL, as guest speaker who addressed the energy challenge and how Tennessee might help. He gave a very lucid talk from which the numbers used here were taken. The City of Knoxville has a Solar America Cities Program of which we will hear from Madeline Weil on May 4.

The problem is not just that we seem to be hopelessly hooked, like addicts, to unfit energy sources, like coal, oil and nuclear. It is compounded by the projection of increasing energy needs and consumption. A 50 percent increase in world-wide energy consumption is predicted between 2005 and 2030 from 487 x 10^12 MJ to 733 x 10^12 MJ. MJ (megajoules) rare also MWs (megawattseconds); so if one divides the MJ by 3600 one gets the more familiar MWh, and if one divides the MWs by the production time one gets the needed capacity in MW. For example, assuming this energy is produced by systems running around the clock, or 31.5 x 10^6 s of the year, an added capacity of 8 x 10^6 MW would be required world-wide by 2030. If the systems run less than full time, then even more capacity is needed. For comparison, TVA’s capacity is about 30 x 10^3 MW. This would mean that some 270 power systems of the size of TVA would have to come on line between now and 2030 world-wide. If the expected additional capacity of 8 x 10^6 MW (a minimum) is to be met by windmills, it would require 1.6 million at 5 MW of them and if they only run 50 % of the time, over 3 million would be needed. Windmills placed in off-shore environments that benefit from on-shore wind during the day and off-shore winds at night, could make a major contribution to a reliable demand, but it takes millions of them. That sounds like the prediction of the millions of horses that were expected to be needed in New York, if development were to continue at the pace of the late 19th century. The sky scrapers would by now be buried in horse apples up to their penthouses. It didn’t happen thanks to a break-through in technology in the form of a self-propelling cart, the automobile. The important message is that instead of thinking conventionally, the situation calls for a major break-through.

The present U.S. energy mix is 40 % crude oil, 23 % coal, 22 % natural gas, 8 % nuclear, and 7 % renewables. If oil, coal and natural gas (all CO2 producers and other trouble makers) have to be drastically reduced, say to 10 % or less each, with coal going back to underground mining, then nuclear would have to be increased to 60 % and renewables to 10 % and more. An accelerated research program would have to be devoted to cope with nuclear waste. In addition, hydro-pumped storage in conjunction with a smart net would take care of the unreliability aspect and provide the storage capacity to help stabilize green power. Something like that would get us through the near future until some real novel approach comes along. For the foreseeable future we have to continue to cook with water, but at least on a somewhat more benign fire. webhosting data . WOW.

The TSK 7-member Board met at the French Market on Gay Street on February 18, 2009 to discuss society business. Six out of seven members were present so that there was a quorum.

We began with discussing the finances. At the beginning of 2009 we had $687.82 in the kitty. We can maintain the present annual dues, which are $20, and we are making a small surplus from those who attend meetings, which pays for meeting costs, mainly the lunch for the speaker and occasional associates. Every year we face several percentage points of increase in the hotel charges. For 2009, the hotel charge for a meal is $10.70. We collect from the members $12. That leaves $1.30 per attendee with which we pay one or sometimes more then one lunch. The surcharge of eight attendees is required to pay for one lunch. Given the large number of meetings, the meetings have to be self-supporting. Since $12 is already a substantial outlay for those attending meetings we have to hold this cost as

long as possible. But every year the rising hotel costs cut more and more into the surplus so that our savings will shrink. Membership dues are used for other expenses, such as printing and mailing soupcons and annual reports.

At the beginning of 2008 we had saved enough money to make a contribution to the Charles E. Ferris Endowment that the TSK created in 1987 at the College of Engineering, UTK. On April 7, 2008, we donated $2500 to this endowment. The dean of the COE, Dr. Way Kuo, was quite appreciative of this contribution.

Any cost reduction we can make would stave off raising the luncheon fees and allow us to make occasional contributions to the Ferris Endowment. One cost cutting measure we discussed was emailing the Soupcon instead of mailing a hardcopy. The Board decided that we begin with emailing the April issue. Members without email will receive a hardcopy at the meeting or by mail. So watch for the Soupcon on your screen in April. Those who don’t want it emailed or have no email should call Walter (687 6591) to receive a hardcopy. The Soupcon is also posted on our website www.technicalsociety.net. Those who don’t want the personal email and just read it on the website should also call the above number or send an email to wowunder@bellsout.net.

The programming effort is distributed to monthly programmers. So far we have monthly programmers through June. Tim Moran who is the annual program coordinator is looking for additional members to take over a month from July through December. We are in this together and each programmer can expect to get some help from others. Continued at www.technicalsociety.net.

So don’t be shy and step forward to take on a part of the load. It can be quite rewarding to scout the community for speakers. Most valuable are speakers who can deliver a Professional Development Hour (PDH) for continuing education of professional engineers, as this attracts additional attendance. If the programmers are professional engineers themselves they know what the Tennessee Licensing Board requirements are for a presentation to qualify as a PDH. Others can obtain the requirements from the secretary (above number and email).

A basic guideline for programming is that the topic should be technical and community related; also it may be health and safety related. The TSK board can help with the decision as to declaring it a PDH, given the speaker is qualified and willing to do it.

A vital problem for TSK’s continuing activity is good attendance at meetings and sufficient membership. Any member who knows a potential candidate should invite him/her. We have sample Soupcons for them and they should also be referred to our website for information on TSK activities.

We especially would like to see more attendance from the nearby TVA. Our meetings are educational and inspiring and could make a contribution to work performance that may not be obvious to managers who only look at the short range.

To make the meeting time slot concise for those who have only a limited lunch time, we will start the meetings at 11:50 with preliminaries and business items and introduce the speaker promptly at 12:00 and adjourn at 13:00.

Anyone who has suggestions should address them to the given telephone number and email, or call the TSK president, Ely Driver (687 1076) or send him an email at edriver@comcast.net.

Monday meetings

Where - Crowne Plaza on Summit Hill Drive
When - Lunch buffet starts at 11:30 AM
Meeting starts at 11:55
Cost - $13.00
For more information, e-mail us at TechnicalSocietyofKnoxville@gmail.com

The Technical Society of Knoxville and its Mission

The Technical Society of Knoxville is a group of persons interested in technology and science, and their effects on society, and in particular, on the community. The Society was founded in 1921 by Charles E. Ferris, the first dean of the UT College of Engineering and a group of leading members of the community.
The hallmark of the Technical Society is its Monday Luncheon meeting. Every Monday, the program features a speaker on a subject of technical, scientific, or general interest. Forty-four meetings were held in 2009. It is estimated that some 3980 luncheon meetings have been held over the past 90 years. The presentations are planned to be informative and educational, and provide person to person contact with experts in the field. Meetings take place at the Crowne Plaza on Summit Hill Drive in downtown Knoxville. Complimentary self parking is available in the hotel garage. Meeting attendees receive a token for exiting the garage without charge after the meeting. Members and guests begin arriving around 11:30am and go through the buffet line. Cost is $13 per person payable in cash or by check in the meeting room to the designated collector. Meetings are called to order at 11:50. After a brief transaction of Society business, the guest speaker is introduced. Normally, presentations take about 50 minutes. Time is usually available for questions from the audience. The meetings are adjourned at 1:00pm. Some programs are scheduled as professional development hours (PDH) to meet the State of Tennessee’s continuing education requirements for professional engineers. These PDHs consist of at least 50 minutes of prepared presentation with discussion reserved for the time after the meeting. The State Licensing Board does not pre-approve such hours and the TSK does not guarantee approval, but strictly meets the Board-specified requirements and issues a certificate of attendance. Monday meetings are announced in the Saturday’s or Sunday’s Knoxville News Sentinel Business Bulletins. Guests are welcome.
For more information contact the secretary, Bob Scott, at rrscott3@aol.com or 865-690-0705.